The present invention relates generally to an electrical apparatus adapted to be disposed in a support such as a rail, a trough, a closet, a plate disposed on a piece of furniture.
Such apparatus can be adapted for the distribution of electrical energy (strong current: 230 volts), to carry out all types of functions such as control, management, safety, etc., to carry communication signals usually called low voltage.
It is difficult to evaluate during construction of dwellings and professional buildings, the ultimate needs of the occupants. It is known for example that the electrical installations of existing buildings, whether they be for private use or professional use, generally have an insufficent number of outlets and points of connection to the telecommunication network, or that the latter are poorly positioned in the rooms relative to the implementation envisaged during a meeting.
During the production of an electrical installation, the installer selects the apparatus having the functions which are necessary for him and arranges them in a support such as a rail, a trough, which can for example be fixed along a wall in the manner of a baseboard or to constitute a mast for electrical distribution, or a cabinet.
This arrangement is also true for the less usual electrical apparatus.
There have first been proposed electrical apparatus, comprising apparatus which are electrically connected or if desired mechanically connected to each other to form an assembly that is inserted into a support in the form of a rail by one open end of the latter and emplaced by sliding in the rail.
The rapid development of technology, the maintenance, reconfiguration, redefinition of cables, the addition of control apparatus, etc. require rapid and permanent access to such apparatus accommodated in a support, rail, beam, post, baseboard, derivative housing, table, distribution or distribution cabinet.
These ultimate arrangements are difficult to provide in apparatus introduced by sliding because it is necessary to have at the end of the rail a space necessary to withdraw them from the support. Measures such as adaptation of these assemblies or adjustment to new needs, the exchange of lightning rods that have been destroyed by lightning, are therefore wrong.
This is why it has been proposed to introduce apparatus through the open front surface of the support. To this end, the securement means adapted to bear on the internal walls of the support have been disposed on the apparatus. These securement means are usually moved between an active position, in which they ensure the maintenance of the apparatus in the support, and a retracted position, in which they promote the withdrawal of the apparatus, by means of control means such as screws or levers.
In certain installations, the control means of the securement means act from a side surface of the apparatus, for which they remain accessible when the apparatus is emplaced in its support, it is then necessary to have said apparatus project in front of said support.
In other constructions, the securement means are accessible from the front after having be mounted the safety and/or decorative plates.
Another drawback of the known apparatus arises from the fact that the securement means that they carry do not permit fixing them in a support other than in a predefined direction. When it is desired to position them in a support disposed at a right angle relative to this predetermined direction, the direction of use of the function carried by the apparatus will be turned by 90xc2x0 relative to the usual direction.
The present invention proposes an arrangement that will be simple and easy to use, permitting solving these problems, and in which access is had to the securement means from the front surface of the apparatus and without having to disassemble the assembled finishing elements, which permits encasing said apparatus in its support and thus making installations that are easily modifiable and of improved appearance.
To this end, the invention relates to an electrical apparatus adapted to be emplaced in a support, comprising a front surface and carrying at least one securement means adapted to coact, in an active position, with a flange of said support to ensure holding said apparatus in this support, characterized in that said securement means can be withdrawn from said active position by introducing a disassembling tool into slot provided for this purpose in said front surface and in that said securement means has a free end disposed adjacent the front surface and having an inclined plane such that the movement of the tool produces a movement in an orthogonal direction of the free end of said securement means, tending to space it from its active position in the direction of its retracted position.
The apparatus according to the invention is further noteworthy in that:
the securement means is constituted by a tongue carried by a sidewall disposed perpendicularly to the front surface and adjacent the edge of the latter,
the tongue is defined by a cutout provided in the sidewall, the side of said cutout which is farthest from the front surface not being open, so as to constitute the foot by which the tongue is connected to the sidewall,
each tongue carries a projection extending beyond its surface turned toward the exterior of the apparatus, said projection comprising an upper surface perpendicular to the wall of the tongue and turned toward the free end of the latter, adapted to bear against the end of a support flange to ensure the holding of the apparatus in the support when the tongue is in its active position,
each slot overlies one tongue and is disposed transversely relative to the plane of this tongue,
securement means and slots permitting their actuation with the aid of a tool are provided on the four sides of the apparatus,
the apparatus comprises a front surface and four angled posts each comprised by two sidewalls carrying tongues, said sidewalls extending respectively over two sides perpendicular to each other of the front surface and being disposed adjacent a same angle of said front surface,
the lower surface of the front surface carries a projection behind which is brought the inclined plane of the securement means when the latter is in a retracted position,
the disassembly tool is constituted by a sleeve and a flat tip adapted to penetrate a slot in the front surface,
the tip of the tool is tapered and has a first edge parallel to the sleeve and a second oblique edge forming an angle with the first.